2S INDIAN PrCKS. 



on the water, tliey dive so ineessantly as to require the help of several 

 people to catch them. 



'• I have ])lace(l their eof.s under domestic hens and dncks, and hatched 

 and reared the youno- l)irds easily, hut they never hecome thoroughly tame, 

 and escaped on the tirst opportunity, though they had, up to the time of 

 their flioht, fed readily with the poultry in the yard. They ran and walkeil 

 freely, and could ])erch on anythino- that did not require to he orasped. 

 It is an exceedinoly >ilont hird — indeed, T have never heard it utter any 

 sound. They repose chiefly on oravel hcaches l)y the side of clear water. 

 Their Hi^ht is In'uh, and well sustained. Ai ninhi they roam over the 

 paddv stu])l)le, au<l 1 have found their stomaidis full of rirrt durinu- the 

 harvest."' 



Other people seem to haxc heen more successful than Tiekell in 

 domesticatino- this fine duck (or ooose), and there are numerous instances 

 on record in which the hird has been readily and thoroughly tamed. How 

 a cross between this and any of the breeds of Domestic Duck would answer 

 is very problematical. Of course, the ])roduct would be a bird of size and 

 weight, but how alidtit the fluMiur? The Xukhta is not a l»ird that tinds 

 much favour with most peoide as an article of food, though it makes very 

 good SOU]) and not bad curry : and the ducklings, when killed ju-t after 

 they have taken to the wing, are (juite delicate and good. 



Though Hume never found anv grain except wild rice in the stomachs 

 of the birds he examined, others, l)esides Tiekell, have found that cultivated 

 rice forms one of the articles of their diet. They eat all sorts of shoots, 

 roots, seeds, &c., of water ])lants, A'arying this vegetarian food with a little 

 animal stuff now and then, such as worms, spawn, larvre. and perhaps an 

 occasional fish. 



The voice of the Xukhta is, according to Legge, "a low, guttural, 

 (piack-like sound, between the voice of a Duck and a Goose." The few I 

 have heard uttered loud cries, which seemed to me fV.r more like the notes 

 of a goose than a duck. A pair, whose nest I afterwards found, used to 

 herald my approach to their particular piece of water with loud trumpet- 

 calls, uttered by them, when they first saw me, from their perches high u\) 

 in the tree. They roost, 1 believe, always in trees, and not in the water 

 or on the ground, and they are not nocturnal, or even crepuscular, birds in 

 their habits, as are most of their order. 



The Comb-Duck is one of those which almost invariably resort to trees 

 for nesting-purposes, as a rule making a rough nest of grass and a few 

 sticks in some large natural hollow of a big tree, generallv at no great 



